Laura Sims | |
Birth Place: | Richmond, Virginia |
Education: | M.F.A., University of Washington |
Occupation: | Poet |
Notableworks: | Practice, Restraint and My god is this a man |
Laura Sims is an American novelist and poet. In 2017, Sims' debut novel Looker sparked a bidding war, which ultimately resulted in a major deal with Scribner. The book follows the spiraling descent of a woman obsessed—with the end of her marriage, with her inability to have a child, with her infuriatingly bourgeois Brooklyn neighborhood, and with her movie star neighbor. It was released on January 8, 2019.
Sims's second novel, How Can I Help You, came out in July 2023. The novel received a major sales boost when bestselling crime novelist Harlan Coben recommended it as one of his favorite reads on the Today Show.
Sims is the author of four books of poetry: Staying Alive (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2016), My god is this a man, Stranger, and Practice, Restraint (Fence Books).[1] [2] In 2014, powerHouse Books published Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson, compiled and edited by Sims.[3] She has published five poetry chapbooks, including POST- (Goodmorning Menagerie, 2011).[4] Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Aufgabe,[5] Black Clock,[6] Black Warrior Review, Colorado Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Crayon, and Denver Quarterly,[7] among others. She has published book reviews and essays in Boston Review, New England Review,[8] Rain Taxi, and The Review of Contemporary Fiction.[9] Her honors include the 2005 Fence Books Alberta Prize for Practice, Restraint and a Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship from the Japan-US Friendship Commission in 2006.[10] [11]
Sims is a graduate of the College of William and Mary. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington.[12] She is a professor of creative writing, literature and composition who currently teaches at New York University.[13] She has been a featured writer for Harriet, the Poetry Foundation's blog, and she is a co-editor of Instance Press with poets Elizabeth Robinson, Beth Anderson, and Susanne Dyckman. She lives in South Orange, New Jersey.